Forest Hall upset Morpeth in Cup Final

(Newcastle Chronicle, 20 September 2024)

As any sports fan will tell you, in Cup Finals underdogs often rise to the occasion and defeat the favourites. In the Northumberland Summer Chess Cup Final, Forest Hall Badgers pulled off an impressive giant-killing act to defeat Morpeth A, while Gosforth Regents defeated their club mates Gosforth Centurions in the Plate Final.

With the help of a 3.5-point handicap, Forest Hall Badgers (a Minor team) beat Morpeth A (an Open team) 5.5-2 – winning two games and losing two games against much higher-rated opposition.

Scores (Morpeth players first):

Board 1: Roger Coathup 1-0 Morgan French
Board 2: Mike Smyth 0-1 Hanif Zaman
Board 3: Martin Seeber 0-1 Reese Wright
Board 4: Alan Welsh 1-0 John Thomas

Forest Hall’s wins were helped by time trouble, with Smyth and Seeber allowing themselves to get into severe time trouble and then blundering. On Board 2, Smyth was a queen for rook ahead, but with only a minute left on his clock, he allowed a checkmate by Zaman with his king trapped on the side of the board.

That decided the match, as the Badgers only needed a single draw to clinch the title. Board 3 also went Forest Hall’s way after Seeber, a piece up with no counterplay, missed a tactic by Wright to win his queen.

Although both wins could be termed lucky, the fighting spirit showed by the young Forest Hall players, coupled with indecision by their more experienced opponents, turned the match in Forest Hall’s favour.

The Plate Final between Gosforth Regents and Gosforth Centurions (both Intermediate teams) was more straightforward. The Regents won comfortably 3.5-0.5, with greater experience this time the factor that swung the match.

Scores (Regent players first):

Board 1: Mark McKay 1-0 Steven Eggleston
Board 2: Marco Checchi 1-0 Antonio Stipanovic
Board 3: Ian Chester 0.5-0.5 David Pritchard
Board 4: Martin Beardsley 1-0 Michael Owen

As the winter chess season gets underway, the 6oth Northumberland Congress takes place at The Parks Leisure Centre, North Shields, over the weekend of 27-29 September. Over 130 players are expected to compete for a total of £2,200 in prizes. It’s still possible to enter the congress, with a range of tournaments for players to try their hand at: Open, Major (under 1900), Minor (under 1675) and Foundation (under 1450). You can enter online at: https://northumberlandchess.wixsite.com/congress.

PUZZLES

This week’s puzzles are from the Chess Olympiad currently taking place in Budapest, Hungary.

Puzzle A: Eicharb-Hillarp Persson. Black to play & win.

Puzzle B: Gumularz-Tuan Minh. White to play & win.

Puzzle C: Erigaisi-Prohaszka. White to play & win.

Puzzle D: Duda-Dragnev. Black to play & draw.

ANSWERS:

A: 1…Ne5+! 2 Kxe4 (2 fxe5 Qxg4 checkmate) 2…Qxg4! (2…Qg6+ also leads to mate) 3 Qxd6 Qf5 checkmate.
B: 1 Nb5! wins material. 1…Qa5 2 Nxa3, or 1…Rxa2 2 Rxb4.
C: 1 Qxh6+! gxh6 2 Rxh6+ Qh7 3 Rxh7 checkmate.
D: 1…Qxh3+! 2 gxh3 Rxf2+ 3 Kg3 Rf3+ 4 Kh2 (if 4 Kxh4 Rxh3 checkmate) 4…Rf2+ Draw. If 3 Kg1 Rxg2+ 4 Kh1 Bxh3 should draw.